Not applicable.
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a plant growing medium container or receptacle with both commercial and home gardening plant husbandry uses. The invention allows control of the growing medium used for the plants, and it provides stability of a vertical array of the containers when stacked to increase plant yield in a given growing space. The containers are easily transported in a compact nested configuration, but are quickly and easily filled with growing medium and stacked for use.
2. Description of Related Art
Vertically arranged growing containers are found in the prior art. Recent examples are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,555,676 (Lund), 5,428,922 (Johnson), and 5,363,594 (Davis). Such prior art containers or container systems present the user with a variety of difficulties making them unsuitable for commercial use and difficult for home gardeners to use. Some containers are of large size making transport difficult and time consuming, others have so many differing parts that transport and assembly is inefficient, others are inefficient in the process of loading growing medium into the container, requiring the container be filled while assembled in a stack, or a time-consuming multi-step filling process is required. Some containers are inefficient in the use of growing medium, requiring a substantial volume of growing medium or a relatively large footprint of ground to support only a relatively small growing area exposed to light. Others have no provision to preclude plants on one level from interfering with growth of plants on adjacent levels.
Recent restrictions or bans on use of certain chemicals used to improve commercial plant production have made it more desirable to have a vertical growing container that will allow control of a plant growing environment. An example is the current US Environmental Protection Agency phase-out of methyl bromide gas that is used as a broad-spectrum pesticide in the control of pest insects, nematodes, weeds, pathogens and rodents. The phase-out of the use of this gas began in 1999 and the present schedule is to completely stop use by the year 2005.
Methyl bromide is commonly used as a soil fumigant to effectively sterilize the soil before a crop of strawberries, tomatoes, or peppers is planted. Treatment with methyl bromide is a labor-intensive activity. The methyl bromide is injected into the soil at 12 to 24 inches depth, and then the soil is covered with plastic tarps to slow the evolution of the gas from the soil. Frequently the plastic tarps are left in place for the growing cycle of the crop.
With the phase-out of methyl bromide and restrictions on other chemical means of improving crop yield and quality, there is a need for a plant growing container system that is labor efficient and allows control of the growing medium, reducing or eliminating the need for pesticides. The intensive plant growing container system provides an added benefit in that the amount of water and labor required to grow many crops is reduced while the growing area is increased. It is estimated that strawberry growers using his stacking container system can quadruple the number of plants per acre and obtain increased yield from each plant because the plants are hanging and not exposed to the pests and mold that commonly damages crops laying on wet ground.
The advantages of this invention apply not only to commercial horticulture, but equally to home gardeners. Many home gardeners have need for an easy-to-use stacking container system for situations where there is limited space and limited time to prepare a garden.
Objects and Advantages
One object of this invention is to provide a plant growing container system that is labor-efficient in filling the containers with growing medium and assembling them into an apparatus for intensive horticulture. The single-piece container incorporates support protrusions that fit into support openings on the top of a second container giving vertical alignment and lateral stability and requiring no additional parts to assemble into a stack. The convenient size of the container allows quick filling by a single person. Once filled, the container support protrusions on the bottom are simply aligned with the support openings in the webs between the lobes on the second container and the second container is pressed into place. This process is quickly and easily repeated until a stack of containers filled with growing medium is obtained.
A second object of this invention is to provide a plant growing container system that is efficient in the use of growing medium when the container is used in a vertical stack of containers. The multi-lobed configuration of this invention, and the means of vertical alignment, provides an alternating lobe arrangement. Stacking the containers causes the lobes of one stacked container to be oriented between the lobes of the container above and the container below. The lobes contain the majority of the growing medium and therefore most of the growing medium is below a surface exposed to light and available for growing crops. The multi-lobed shape of the container also naturally separates plants from each other without requiring wasted growing medium in between the plants.
A third object of this invention is to provide a plant growing container system that is easily transported to the growing site and easily handled on the site. Each container is lightweight so it may be carried and manipulated with one hand. This light weight, and the ability of entire stacks of the containers to be nested and carried by a single person, makes for efficient shipping and transport to the growing site.
A fourth object of this invention is to provide a plant growing container system that is adaptable to numerous irrigation arrangements. Irrigation liquid may be introduced through tubing arranged up the center of a stack of containers, through tubing attached to the outer periphery of the containers, or by a completely external system, either rain or a system simulating rain. The container internals can provide for directing irrigation liquid in the container to the growing region, the outer lobed area of the container, and from this area the irrigation liquid can cascade from an upper container to successively lower containers through openings in the bottom of the container. Irrigation systems used with the container may be automated through use of soil moisture sensors and associated control systems.
A fifth object of this invention is to provide a plant growing container system that provides intensive horticulture that maximizes a crop yield of excellent quality. The rounded edge of the lobe section of the container allows crops that grow on a stem, such as strawberries, to hang from the container edge without damage to the stem. Crops grown hanging in this manner rather than lying on the wet ground are less susceptible to pests and molds associated with wet ground.
A sixth object of this invention is to provide a plant growing container system that provides intensive horticulture with labor efficient and crop-yield efficient harvesting of a crop. Any vertical arrangement of containers will allow harvesting a majority of the crop without having to bend down to reach the ground, providing labor efficient harvesting. The alternating lobe arrangement of this container system improves on this efficiency by producing a crop that is easily seen and therefore completely harvested, providing both labor and crop-yield efficient harvesting.
A seventh object of this invention is to provide a plant growing container system which may be manufactured at low cost and is durable so it may be used for multiple growing seasons, which will make use of this system economically desirable for both commercial growers and home gardeners. This plastic injection-molded article of unitary construction is also adaptable to other efficient manufacture processes.